Spatial Problem Solving Research Articles

Gender differences in operational and cognitive abilities.

Gender differences in cognitive and operational abilities have been identified. Yet, their interrelationship remains underexplored. This prevents tailored evidence-based selection, allowing discrimination to persist. Data from a test battery of operational and cognitive tests was analyzed. In total 2,743 aviation pilot candidates' test scores were analyzed. Males had a significantly higher score on mental spatial ability, memory retention, abstract problem solving, multitasking ability (MU), and manual spatial ability (MSA); and females on perceptual speed. Correlations between MU and MSA [difference = 0.269 (95% CI: 0.114; 0.405)] and between MSA and perceptual speed [difference = 0.186 (95% CI: 0.027; 0.332)] were significantly stronger among female applicants. A high MSA score was more predictive of a high score on MU, Perceptual speed, and Memory for female compared with male applicants (p < 0.002 for the MSA score × sex interaction effect in all three cases). Interpretation of test scores in between genders potentially may need to look different for final selection decisions for operational professions, as female test profiles were shown to exhibit greater homogeneity.

The Relationship between Spatial and Linguistic Intelligence with Mathematical Problem Solving Abilities

There is emerging consensus that spatial intelligence and linguistic intelligence play fundamental roles in how individuals comprehend, express, approach, and solve mathematical problems. However, the underlying nature of this relationship remains challenging to grasp. Questions persist regarding how, why, and under what conditions spatial and linguistic intelligences are interrelated with mathematical problem-solving. This article addresses these questions through a literature review method, summarizing and synthesizing research from the fields of educational psychology and neuroscience. Findings indicate that spatial intelligence is associated with mathematical problem-solving. However, not all areas of mathematics have a consistent and strong relationship with spatial intelligence. In the findings of this article, a strong and consistent relationship between spatial intelligence and mathematical problem solving was found in areas such as geometry and algebra. As for linguistic intelligence, a fairly consistent relationship with mathematical problem solving ability was found. This may be because mathematical problem solving requires discursive skills, which are part of linguistic intelligence. The review concludes by considering the extent to which spatial and linguistic intelligence can be transferred to mathematical problem solving. Ultimately, this article aims to provide a more coherent and mechanistic explanation of the relationship between spatial and linguistic intelligences.

Exploring diagram-based visual problem representation and relational abstraction

ABSTRACT For visual information processing, the derivation of meaningful low-level spatio-temporal information is challenging. In line with human visualisation and perception in spatial problem-solving, we believe explicit representations hold promise for efficient low-level abstractions. An approach for mapping spatial objects and relations, exploring diagrams’ representation power for problem visualisation, is presented. Combined, qualitative spatio-temporal reasoning and diagrammatic reasoning directly influence information visualisation and abstraction over the physical substrate of a problem. The framework preserves objects’ low-level spatio-temporal information over time, facilitating the interpretation of unique relationships. A 78% average activity recognition accuracy on the CAVIAR and Mind’s Eye datasets demonstrates the effectiveness of the suggested abstraction approach.

Location Analytics in Information Systems: Opportunities for Research and Teaching

Location analytics can inform decision-making and long-term strategies in various sectors and industries such as retail, manufacturing, government, defense, transportation, logistics, energy, and utilities for customer experience management, sales, marketing, supply chain optimization, business continuity and resilience, remote monitoring of critical assets, and risk management. Despite organizations gaining a competitive edge through location analytics, its adoption within the academic Information Systems (IS) discipline remains sparse. The absence of spatial methodologies in analytical and behavioral IS research is striking. Furthermore, this lack of integration is evident as spatial problem-solving is scarcely covered in IS curricula, and location data analysis is often relegated as a peripheral skill. Our panel paper delineates the many opportunities location analytics presents for broadening research horizons and enriching IS education. We suggest incorporating location analytics into research by demonstrating how spatial methodologies can bolster IS research rigor. We also explain how integrating location analytics into the IS curricula can prepare students for this growing area of analytics. Foremost, we aim to catalyze a paradigm shift towards more spatially informed IS research and education.

Dietary patterns from youth to adulthood and cognitive function in midlife: The cardiovascular risk in Young Finns Study

ObjectivesDiet plays an important role in cognitive health, but the long-term association of diet early in life with cognitive function in adulthood has not, to our knowledge, been rigorously studied. The aim of this study was to examine the association of youth, adulthood, and long-term dietary patterns from youth to adulthood with cognitive function in midlife. MethodsThis was a population-based cohort study that assessed dietary intake in 1980 (baseline, participants 3–18 y of age), 1986, 2001, 2007, and 2011 and cognitive function in 2011. Six dietary patterns were derived from 48-h food recall or food frequency questionnaires using factor analysis. The dietary patterns were traditional Finnish, high-carbohydrate, vegetables and dairy products, traditional Finnish and high-carbohydrate, red meat, and healthy. Scores of long-term dietary patterns were calculated as the average between youth and adulthood. Cognitive function outcomes assessed included episodic memory and associative learning, short-term working memory and problem solving, reaction and movement time, and visual processing and sustained attention. Standardized z-scores of exposures and outcomes were used for analyses. ResultsParticipants (n = 790, mean age 11.2 y) were followed up for 31 y. Multivariable models showed that both youth and long-term vegetable and dairy products and healthy patterns were positively associated with episodic memory and associative learning scores (β = 0.080–0.111, P < 0.05 for all). Both youth and long-term traditional Finnish patterns were negatively associated with spatial working memory and problem solving (β = –0.085 and –0.097, respectively; P < 0.05 for both). Long-term high-carbohydrate and traditional Finnish and high-carbohydrate patterns were inversely associated with visual processing and sustained attention, whereas the vegetable and dairy products pattern was positively associated with this cognitive domain (β = –0.117 to 0.073, P < 0.05 for all). Adulthood high-carbohydrate and traditional Finnish and high-carbohydrate patterns were inversely associated with all cognitive domains except for reaction and movement time (β = –0.072 to –0.161, P < 0.05 for all). Both long-term and adulthood red meat pattern were positively associated with visual processing and sustained attention (β = 0.079 and 0.104, respectively; P < 0.05 for both). These effect sizes correspond to approximately 1.6 to 16.1 y of cognitive aging on these cognitive domains. ConclusionsHigher adherence to traditional Finnish, high-carbohydrate, and traditional Finnish and high-carbohydrate patterns across the early life course was associated with poorer cognitive function in midlife, whereas higher adherence to healthy and vegetable and dairy product patterns was associated with better cognitive function. The findings, if causative, highlight the importance of maintaining a healthy dietary pattern from early life to adulthood in an attempt to promote cognitive health.

Is Toxoplasma gondii infection related to spatial problem solving and fear response in sheep?

Toxoplasma gondii (TG) is a protozoan tissue cyst forming parasite, with the potential to infect all warm-blooded animals including humans. Its importance in behaviour manipulation has been studied extensively in rodent models. There is however limited literature of TG effects on behaviour in other species. TG readily disseminates and forms cysts in muscle and neural tissue of sheep, and Australia’s estimated national prevalence of TG in lambs and sheep sits at 16% and 32%, respectively, posing a potential risk to human health, and food safety. Further, an outbreak of TG may result in large economic impacts on the Australian sheep industry. This study had two aims: To identify seroprevalence of TG within a commercial sheep flock in Southern New South Wales, Australia and to investigate the relationship between TG infection and sheep behaviour. Fifty crossbred ewes of varying ages were selected at random from a flock of non pregnant ewes. Blood samples from each sheep were tested for presence of TG antibodies using a modified agglutination test. Each sheep was subjected individually to spatial maze and a novel object/unfamiliar human approach tests over a five-week period. Modified agglutination testing revealed prevalence of antibodies in 24% of the tested sheep, with titre levels between 1/16–1/256. TG positive sheep were slower to solve a spatial maze than test negative sheep in the first week of testing. A significant decline in the number of “errors’ made while solving the maze in subsequent trials indicated that sheep readily learnt to solve the maze. Sheep showed more avoidance of a human than a novel object or dog bark, but avoidance was not related to TG infection. In conclusion, this study provided evidence of a relationship between TG infection and problem-solving behaviour in sheep. Fear response appear to be unrelated to effects of infection. Studies such as these allow us to observe how TG effects incidental hosts and if a variation in behaviour changes occurs between species.

Hands of confidence: When gestures increase confidence in spatial problem-solving.

This study examined whether the metacognitive system monitors the potential positive effects of gestures on spatial thinking. Participants (N = 59, 31F, Mage = 21.67) performed a mental rotation task, consisting of 24 problems varying in difficulty, and they evaluated their confidence in their answers to problems in either gesture or control conditions. The results revealed that performance and confidence were higher in the gesture condition, in which the participants were asked to use their gestures during problem-solving, compared with the control condition, extending the literature by evidencing gestures' role in metacognition. Yet, the effect was only evident for females, who already performed worse than males, and when the problems were difficult. Encouraging gestures adversely affected performance and confidence in males. Such results suggest that gestures selectively influence cognition and metacognition and highlight the importance of task-related (i.e., difficulty) and individual-related variables (i.e., sex) in elucidating the links between gestures, confidence, and spatial thinking.

Foundations of human spatial problem solving

Despite great strides in both machine learning and neuroscience, we do not know how the human brain solves problems in the general sense. We approach this question by drawing on the framework of engineering control theory. We demonstrate a computational neural model with only localist learning laws that is able to find solutions to arbitrary problems. The model and humans perform a multi-step task with arbitrary and changing starting and desired ending states. Using a combination of computational neural modeling, human fMRI, and representational similarity analysis, we show here that the roles of a number of brain regions can be reinterpreted as interacting mechanisms of a control theoretic system. The results suggest a new set of functional perspectives on the orbitofrontal cortex, hippocampus, basal ganglia, anterior temporal lobe, lateral prefrontal cortex, and visual cortex, as well as a new path toward artificial general intelligence.

Insight problem solving is not that special, but business is not quite 'as usual': typical versus exceptional problem-solving strategies.

The intriguing phenomenon of insight (also known as the "Aha!" moment) has provoked a long-standing conflict over its cognitive mechanism. The special-process theory posits insight as a unique, unconscious mechanism. Conversely, the business-as-usual theory conceptualizes insight processing as ordinary and similar to non-insight, i.e., analytic, incremental, and attention demanding. To resolve this conflict, participants completed cognitive tests and solved four types of problems: verbal insight, spatial insight, verbal non-insight, and spatial non-insight. These problems were solved under three conditions: silence (control), inner speech suppression (articulatory suppression), and non-verbal attentional demands (spatial tapping). Interestingly, insight problem solving differed from verbal non-insight, but resembled spatial non-insight problem solving. Solving insight and spatial non-insight problems substantially benefitted from spatial and near verbal analogical thinking and convergent thinking, and little from divergent thinking. Both were unaffected by secondary tasks. Analogical thinking was associated more strongly with the generation of new solution procedures than with the retrieval of known procedures from memory, as in verbal non-insight problem solving. Analogical and convergent thinking seem to be key skills for the creation of new solutions, whether or not they are insight based. The results indicate a typical, analytic solution method consistent with the business-as-usual theory. Yet, there is also evidence for an exceptional solving method that includes rare attributes of the insightful process delineated by the special-process theory. Thus, we endorse an unequally integrated assertion that each theory reflects a different mode of thinking, the common versus the uncommon, by which insightful solutions can be produced.

Problem Solving by Agricultural Extension Students with Various Levels of Creativity through a Neurocognitive Lens

The cultivation of agricultural extension talent is key to sustainable agricultural development because it can help create unique economic relationships, add new knowledge and skills to traditional agriculture, identify marketing advantages in emerging markets, and promote the transition to a sustainable society. This study identified the activated brain regions and thought patterns of agricultural extension students when they performed numerical, spatial, and verbal intelligence tasks. The cerebral activity of the student participants was captured through electroencephalography to analyze their activated brain regions and thought patterns during the problemidentification and resolution-reaching phases. A total of 36 participants were recruited and divided into high-creativity (HC) and low-creativity groups to analyze differences in their thought patterns. The results indicated that numeric problem solving activated the frontoparietal network and was associated with a high level of self-generated thought. The function of evaluating creativity was inhibited in the HC group, and the participants engaged in divergent semantic processing during the numeric task. Spatial problem solving activated the frontal regions and was associated with intensive visual search tasks. The HC group exhibited suppressed creativity evaluation and analogical reasoning. Verbal problem solving activated the frontoparietal regions and was associated with verbal memory, semantic-based word processing, and self-generated thought. Creative associations in the verbal task were enhanced in the HC group. This study adopted innovative approaches to address a complex topic that has not been thoroughly investigated but is essential for the theoretical development of both neurocognitive science and agricultural sustainability.

Creating a Virtual Method to Examine Parents’ Impact on Spatial Problem-Solving

Creating a Virtual Method to Examine Parents’ Impact on Spatial Problem-Solving

Relationships of eye gaze metrics between cognitive processes and strategy in spatial problem-solving

Spatial strategies and cognitive processes have been separately found to indicate performance in spatial problem-solving, but their relationships have not been investigated quantitatively. This study employed eye-tracking to characterize and determine the relationship of the cognitive processes and spatial strategies employed by first year engineering students with low spatial ability. Eighty-eight engineering students with low spatial ability were recruited to complete test items in the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotations (PSVT:R) and the Santa Barbara Solids Test (SBST). Eye-tracking data were collected to indicate the encoding, transformation, confirmation cognitive processes as well as whether holistic or piecemeal strategy was employed. Strategy ratio correlated with encoding fixations more than other cognitive processes. This finding suggests that encoding may be more indicative of spatial strategies being employed than the transform and confirmation processes. Pedagogical practices for low spatial ability students may turn to improving the encoding process for better learning outcomes.

Effect of estradiol on cognition in men undergoing androgen deprivation therapy: A randomized placebo-controlled trial.

Roles for estradiol in modulating cognition in men remain uncertain. We assessed the isolated effects of estradiol on cognition in men in the absence of testosterone. Randomized trial of transdermal estradiol 0.9 mg daily, or matched placebo, for 6 months, hypothesizing that estradiol would improve verbal learning, verbal memory, and spatial problem solving over time. Men receiving androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer. Cognition was assessed by a tablet-based cognitive battery (Cogstate) at baseline, Month 1, Month 3, and Month 6. Anxiety and depression symptoms were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Seventy-eight participants were randomized. Baseline mean scores were 21.0 (standard deviation [SD] 4.1) for the International Shopping List test (ISL), assessing verbal learning and memory (higher scores better), and 60.4 (SD 19.5) for the Groton Maze Learning test (GML), assessing spatial problem solving (lower scores better). There was no significant difference in performance over time for the estradiol group versus the placebo group for the ISL, mean adjusted difference (MAD) 0.7 (95% confidence interval [CI] -1.2 to 2.5), p = .36, or the GML, MAD -3.2 (95% CI -12.0 to 5.6), p = 0.53. There was no significant difference between groups over time in performance in any other cognitive domain, or on depression or anxiety scores. We found no major effects of estradiol on cognition in men with castrate testosterone concentrations. Although the cognitive effects of ADT are debated, this study suggests that any such effects are unlikely to be prevented by the administration of estradiol.

“It’s not rocket science” and “It’s not brain surgery”—“It’s a walk in the park”: prospective comparative study

ObjectiveTo compare cognitive testing scores in neurosurgeons and aerospace engineers to help settle the age old argument of which phrase—“It’s not brain surgery” or “It’s not rocket science”—is most deserved.DesignInternational...

Contribution of the hippocampus to performance on the traveling salesperson problem in rats

The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is an optimization problem in which the subject attempts to find the shortest possible route that passes through a set of fixed locations exactly once. The TSP is used in cognitive and behavioral research to study problem solving and spatial navigation. While the TSP has been studied in some depth from this perspective, the biological mechanisms underlying the behavior have not yet been explored. The hippocampus is a structure in the brain that is known to be involved in tasks that require spatial memory. Because the TSP requires spatial problem solving, we designed the current study to determine whether the hippocampus is required to find efficient solutions to the TSP, and if so, what role the hippocampus serves. Rats were pretrained on the TSP, which involved learning to retrieve bait from targets in a variety of spatial configurations. Matched for performance, rats were then divided into two groups, receiving either a hippocampal lesion or a control sham surgery. After recovering from surgery, the rats were tested on eight new configurations. A variety of behavioral measures were recorded, including distance travelled, number of revisits, memory span, and latency. The results showed that the sham group outperformed the lesion group on most of these measures. Based on the behavioral data and histological tissue analysis of each group, we determined that the hippocampus is involved in successful performance in the TSP, particularly regarding memory for which targets have already been visited.

Editorial

When I first started the publishing of the European Journal of Geography (EJG), more than a decade ago, it was decided to be published in accordance with the goal of the European Ministers of Education, under the Bologna Process and Lisbon Agenda, to make European higher education a worldwide reference and standard. That is, EJG as the publishing arm of the European Association of Geographers-EUROGEO had as a fundamental goal to fulfil EUROGEO’s goals related to:  Communicate Geographic information to the widest possible audience.  Continue validating the quality of Geographic research, which is the isthmus test of all journals.  Build a valid collective Geographic knowledge base.  Promote the work of the Geographic community In addition, however, as chief editor of our journal, I was determined to achieve a series of objectives, who has been successful, such as:  Provide a forum for geographers worldwide to communicate on all aspects of research and applications of geography.  Promote the significance of geography as a discipline and contribute towards improving the quality of research, learning and teaching of Geography.  Work diligently towards producing more, with better quality papers, in all geographic subjects  Create the conditions to be accepted by the Content Selection and Advisory Board (CSAB) and be included in SCOPUS the leading world citation database.  Achieve and continuously increase its impact factor, which is taking place by the constant increase of EJG’s papers referencing, by all who believe and value European Geography.  Improve the digital transformation of publishing Geographic research, teaching and spatial problem solving by created a journal environment that includes digitization (everything to be in a digital form), digitalization (every process to be computerized) and digital effects (the publishing results to be on line available to anyone, anywhere and for any purpose).  Provide distribution mechanism for the work accomplished during the EUROGEO conferences, by publishing special issues that included selected papers (following the EJG normal evaluation process) presented at these conferences. The issue you are browsing at this minute (Vol.11, No.4) represents the last milestone that has been achieved in our Journal, namely: to provide a forum and an incentive for National Geographic Associations to communicate on all aspects of research and applications of geography related to local conditions. This is a special issue that includes selected papers (following the EJG normal evaluation process) presented at National Geographic conferences, which in this case was the Hellenic Geographic Society

Beyond spatial reasoning: Challenges for ecological problem solving

This vision piece reflects upon virtues of early computer science due to scarcity and high cost of computational resources. It critically assesses divergences between real-world problems and their computational counterparts in commonsense problem solving. The paper points out the different objectives of commonsense versus scientific approaches to problem solving. It describes how natural cognitive systems exploit space and time without explicitly representing their properties and why purely computational approaches are less efficient than their natural role models, as they depend on explicit representations. We argue for investigating spatio-temporally integrated methods to spatial problem solving. We contrast these methods to sequential computational approaches that require digital twins of the environment and cannot make direct use of simultaneous spatio-temporal interactions. The paper concludes with predicting future developments in problem solving, praising the relative merits of different routes to be taken. It advocates the translation of fundamental cognitive principles into technical robotic solutions.

Inhibitory control – Important trait for explosive detection performance in police dogs?

Working dogs are used for a range of important operational tasks. Identifying potentially successful working dogs as early as possible is important as rejection rates are high and training is costly. Earlier research has mainly concentrated on personality traits such as boldness, and there is only little knowledge on the possible association between cognitive traits and the actual working dog performance. This study investigated whether motor inhibition, persistence, problem-solving strategies, and spatial problem-solving are associated with explosive detection success in specially trained police dogs. Dogs (N = 24) were tested with a cognitive test battery, and subsequently they participated in an explosive detection test. The explosive searching situation and the location of the test was such that it would reflect as much as possible a real-life situation. Canine handlers also filled in a questionnaire regarding their dog’s working behaviour. We found that those dogs that were more successful in explosive detection task had better motor inhibition in a cylinder task compared to dogs with lower success in an explosive search task. Furthermore, we found that dogs that made more errors in the cylinder task were generally more likely to give up searching sooner, as reported by their handlers, and also abandon sooner the problem-solving task in behavioural test. This study suggests that inhibitory control, specifically motor inhibition, may be an important aspect to consider when selecting suitable dogs for explosive detection tasks. Cylinder task is an easy and quick way to assess inhibitory control, although a larger dataset is needed to verify its association with working performance.

Defining and Measuring the Influences of GIS-Based Instruction on Students’ STEM-Relevant Reasoning

Geospatial technologies, such as geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, and GPS have been used in a variety of educational settings to help improve student learning. A sample of 53 high school seniors was recruited from the Geospatial Semester (GSS), a course that emphasizes the use of GIS for problem-solving and students in AP Physics and AP History served as a comparison. GSS students’ spatial thinking and problem solving improved across the school year in contrast to Comparison Group. Results suggest that GIS-based instruction can be used to enhance students’ use of spatial reasoning when solving STEM-relevant problems.

The Effect of Problem-Based Learning Models Through Map Media on Spatial Intelligence and Problem Solving Skills

This research was based on the existence about the important of spatial Intelligences as based for problem solving skills. The purpose of the study was to know the increase of spatial intelligence and problem-solving skills of learners that are subjected to problem-based learning through the map media. And to know how big the correlation between spatial intelligence and problem solving skills. The design of this study was Quasi Experimental or quasi-experimental design in the form of Nonequivalent Control group pre test post test design. The hypothesis was tested by using statistical parametric independent sample t test and non-parametric Mann Whitney, followed by n-gain test score as well as the calculation of correlation and regression linearity. The results showed a significant improvement in terms of spatial intelligence between classroom space experiments using map media with grade control and the experimental class using photo media. There was a significant improvement in their to solve problems skills between the two classes of experiments using problem based learning with control classroom using expository models. Then there is a very strong correlation between spatial intelligence variables with the variable problem-solving skills, as well as a significant influence on the spatial intelligence problem-solving skills.